Fresh off an offer from the Bruins, a local prospect is ready to take the next step in his recruiting.
Class of 2023 forward Devin Williams received an offer from UCLA men’s basketball Thursday night, his AAU team, the Compton Magic, announced on Twitter. Williams tweeted about an hour later that he would narrow his list to five schools on Saturday.
In addition to the Bruins, Williams also has offers from Cal, Cal Poly, George Mason, Loyola Marymount, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Pepperdine, Portland State, San Diego, San Diego State, Santa Clara , Texas Tech, USC , Washington and Xavier.
Williams is due to make an official visit with the Trojans on June 9. Although he doesn’t have an official for the Bruins, Williams was on campus Thursday, which means he could have gotten his offer in person.
The Southern California prospect is entering his senior year at Centennial (CA), the same high school where Arron Afflalo and Jalen Hill attended. Hill is also one of eight UCLA players in the past seven classes who have played for the Magic, the same AAU program that produced TJ Leaf, Ike Anigbogu, Jaylen Hands, Jules Bernard, Johnny Juzang, Jaylen Clark and incoming rookie Dylan Andrews.
UCLA assistant coach Rod Palmer is closely linked to Etop Udo-Ema, the founder of the Compton Magic, and he was instrumental in maintaining the Bruins’ connection to the program until the Mick era. Cronine.
Williams marks a potential extension of that Compton-Westwood pipeline, as UCLA represents one of its six energy conference deals and one of its three on the Pac-12.
Leading the way to the centennial downstairs, Williams helped the Huskies to a 33-1 record and the CIF Open Division State Championship as a junior. The 6-foot-10, 200-pound forward has excelled as a shot blocker and high-flying athlete, and he’s also managed to develop an outside shot over the past year.
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Williams is a four-star prospect according to 247Sports and ESPN, but a three-star prospect according to Rivals and 247Sports Composite. The composite rankings appear to be lagging a bit — putting him at No. 18 in California, No. 28 among power forwards and No. 133 in his category overall — while 247Sports bumped him up from No. #139 to #88 in its latest update.
ESPN ranked Williams as the No. 7 power forward in the nation, No. 6 rookie in California and No. 58 overall.
Beyond the lack of consensus on the fast-growing prospect, Williams is one of the lowest-ranked prospects the Cronin staff have offered. By Thursday, 11 of their 19 offers had gone to five-star recruits and seven to four-stars.
Several of the five-stars have already committed elsewhere or removed UCLA from their shortlist, and many are from out of state. Williams, a local prospect, projects himself more as a four-year long-term player compared to the highly ranked blue chips the staff have spent most of the last year targeting.
The Bruins don’t have a single commitment in their Class of 2023, highly ranked or not. This is a pivotal class nonetheless, given that they might have up to eight scholarships available to hand out.
UCLA’s job rotation may not need to be completely rebuilt unless McDonald’s All-American center Adem Bona makes a one-and-one or Mac Etienne fully returns from his Torn ACL. Still, Williams would be one of the few players who could be at Westwood next season if he signs up, and the Bruins will find out if he can actually be had when he announces his top five this weekend.
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